Father Fred Lucci, director of the All Saints Catholic Newman Center (ASCNC) is easily recognizable around campus. Whether bouncing around or preaching the Word, this ASU alumnus has a couple words of his own for students. This week, SPM discovered we aren't the only ones who hate giving up chocolate for Lent.
SPM: Don't I know you?
Father Fred: I'm often recognized as that young priest at the Newman Center — people even say the "bouncy priest."
SPM: So, tell me: Is this your life's ambition?
FF: It's turned into that. I like hanging around college students because I find students at this age asking some of the most important questions of who they want to be.
SPM: For Lent, do you have a typical thing you sacrifice every year?
FF: I hate Lent!
SPM: You hate Lent? Why?
FF: I hate dieting and sometimes don't feel like exercising, but I do them anyway. But why do we do them? We like the effect. So, chocolate — I don't do chocolate.
SPM: So, you went to ASU?
FF: I did. I came here to play my clarinet and was on a full music scholarship. This is where I started and now I'm back. And now [ASCNC is] trying to build something big.
SPM: Yeah? What are you guys trying to do?
FF: We're trying to build a 22-story dormitory for people who want to live according to a Catholic code of ethics. Hopefully we'll be done by 2010.
SPM: Very nice. So did you ever think that you'd end up as a priest?
FF: No. I wanted to get the hell away from my family — I love my family, but I was 19. I had to go to church every Sunday, and it was the most boring and irrelevant hour of my life. I had planned to come here for many things, but being Catholic was not one of them. ASU, especially in the early '80s, promised a lot of other things. The drinking age at that time was 19, so I could drink the day I stepped onto campus.
SPM: Did you know that scientists have actually etched the Bible onto a tiny silicon chip?
FF: What are they going to do with it?
SPM: I don't know, but it's kind of the vision of the future.
FF: I'm not too sure on writing things down in the first place. The Bible's supposed to be a living document, but I guess it had to be written down. I just don't know how I feel about it being etched into silicon.
SPM: I see. Any last words to students out there?
FF: Don't lose your optimism. Continue to believe that you can change the world.
